“What time does the bar close?”
“2:00 a.m.,” was the whimpered response.
“See you a minute after two.” Rhys kissed the side of Moe’s neck and went back to the bar. When he looked back over to where his mate stood he could almost see the wheels turning. Rhys smiled, wondering how his mate would get them to close early.
Game on.
* * * *
“I can’t believe you said we were doing a fire drill!” Rhys laughed as he helped close out the tills. It had taken his mate all of two minutes to announce loudly that they would be closing early for the night. Ms. Tully and the ladies had been extremely understanding and giggled as they filed out. Gina and Cecelia waved good-bye, blushing. He and Moe managed to close the bar down in record time.
Rhys looked over at his mate who was wiping down the bar with the biggest smile on his face. He pushed down a rising sense of panic. He could do this. He would do anything to make his mate happy. Moe finished up and threw the washcloth into the sink. When he looked up and saw Rhys’s face he froze.
“Baby?”
“I’m good, just nervous I guess. Which is crazy right? I mean it’s not like I’m a blushing virgin and we’re mates.” Rhys knew he was babbling but couldn’t help it.
“First, I don’t want to hear about you with anyone else. To me you’re as pure as the newly driven snow.” Rhys snorted. Moe ignored him.
“Second, yes we’re mates, but that doesn’t mean instant intimacy. It’s something we’re going to have to build together.” Moe walked over and simply took his hands.
“Let’s go to bed.”
Rhys nodded.
“Let’s go.”
Chapter 3
As they passed Peyton’s room the door flew open.
“See! I’m wearing earphones! Have fun!” Peyton yelled and then disappeared behind his shut door again.
Rhys stunned looked over at Moe, who was grinning widely.
“I could kiss him right now,” Moe shook his head at Peyton’s antics. Rhys hissed and started to back his mate’s six-foot-eight body toward the stairs to their apartment.
“Mine!” Rhys hissed. Moe closed his eyes and shuddered.
“God yes, I’m yours.” He opened his eyes.
“Do you have any idea how sexy you are right now?”
Rhys didn’t say anything, he just stalked forward, moving his mate away from the younger, smaller male to their apartment.
Once inside their apartment Rhys pounced, pushing Moe back onto their bed. He pushed his hips forward and ground his rock-hard cock against his mate. They both moaned. Moe reached up and pulled Rhys’s head forward. Rhys couldn’t get enough of Moe’s tongue. They dueled back and forth as their bodies thrust against each other. Without conscious thought his fangs descended and nicked Moe’s lip. His mate never even noticed in his lust-filled haze, but everything in Rhys shifted. That one small sip of blood changed everything. He straddled his mate and jerked his head to one side exposing the long muscular column of Moe’s neck. Rhys leaned forward and at the last second realized what he was doing.
Breathing hard, Rhys sat back letting go of Moe’s head letting it roll back. Moe’s gray eyes looked at him questioningly. Rhys knew that if he asked, Moe would give him every ounce of his blood and god help him, he may take it. Disgusted, he propelled himself backward. He flew across the room until his back slammed against the far wall. He allowed his body to slide down and wrapped his arms around his legs.
Behind his eyelids he was back in the dark room. Every echoed sound teased and tortured him.
Was blood coming today? He was so hungry. He knew that the crazy fuck that held him killed the people whose blood he fed from, but he didn’t care anymore. His throat burned. He felt like had swallowed pieces of glass his throat was so dry. He needed more. Why didn’t that psycho just kill someone already? Oh god! He didn’t mean that, but he needed blood so badly.
“Rhys?” He heard a voice above him. Was the man back to taunt him again?
“Rhys, baby, you’re scaring me. Open your eyes,” the familiar voice called to him again.
He looked up and hissed at the man to stay away. There was only sadness, no fear in those gray eyes.
“Come back to me, Rhys.”
Why couldn’t he just leave him alone! Rhys hissed low at the large man.
“You can’t leave me. I won’t let you. If you need my blood take it! Take every fucking drop, just don’t leave me. I can’t be alone again. I won’t!” Rhys eyed the man suspiciously. Tears ran down his cheeks in steady streams.
“Please.” The deep voice broke as it pleaded.
“You have to come back. You’re my miracle.”
It was as if that single word held power over him. Miracle.
Gray eyes that smiled in kindness. Miracle.
Unconditional acceptance and support. Miracle.
His mate. His mate Moe, who had helped to nurse him back from the brink of hell.
Moe!
“Moe?” He gasped. The muscles in his throat constricted, demanding blood.
“I’m here, baby! I’m here. What do you need?” Moe asked, placing his hands on the tops of Rhys’s feet.
“Blood. Hurry,” he croaked.
Moe didn’t ask for explanation or permission. He simply scooped him up as if he weighed nothing and ran down the stairs. He cleared the second floor and before Rhys could blink they were at the ground level and heading toward the back of the bar where his blood storage refrigerator stood. Moe shifted Rhys so that he was holding him on his hip with one arm and with the other flung the freezer door open.
He ran inside and simply grabbed a handful of medical donation bags. He put Rhys down on the counter and grabbed a knife from a drawer. He punctured a bag and drained it into a glass. He put it in the microwave for a minute and turned back to face him.
“Hold on, baby, it’s coming.”
Rhys kept his eyes closed. In his head he was counting down. 59, 58, 57. Not nearly soon enough, the microwave dinged, and Moe, heedless of the hot glass, handed him the warmed liquid. As he was gulping down the warm, thick liquid, he heard Moe put a second glass in the microwave. His body welcomed the rush the blood heralded, the fire in his veins. He upended the glass and used his tongue to capture every drop. A second ding, a second glass. It wasn’t until the sixth ding did that the rush subsided and his mind began to clear.
When he looked around he saw scattered blood-stained glasses. He looked down and to his horror he had dripped blood down his chin and chest. His mate stood there, chest heaving, tears in his eyes. The shame he felt threatened to destroy his humanity.
He covered his eyes, unable to face his mate. Anger consumed him.
“Why!” His ragged cry reverberated off of the stainless steel appliances.
“Why did this happen? Why me? What did I ever do to deserve this?” Each word came from his gut and burned his throat as he screamed. Moe simply stood there, silently waiting.
Rhys picked up the glasses and threw them against the walls. They shattered, covering the walls with flecks of blood. When he ran out of glasses he reached for the chrome stools and hurled them across the room. He was reaching for the table when large hands pulled him against a hard body.
“No! No! I’m not your mate. You deserve someone who is whole. Get off me! Get away!” Rhys struggled in Moe’s arms, trying to get away. He would move back in with the coven, lock himself away to keep Moe safe.
“Shut the fuck up,” the low voice growled.
The bass of the gravelly request had Rhys freezing mid-struggle.
In two steps Moe had him against the wall.
“You want blood? Fucking drink it! You want to break every glass in this bar? I’ll line them up for you. You want to redecorate our kitchen with a barstool be my guest, but if I ever hear you say you aren’t my mate I will shake the ever-loving shit out of you and claim you, whether you want it or not. You are mine! Every strand of your gorgeous blond hair,
every muscle that hypnotizes me when I watch you move, every tear you cry, every smile, every fucking thing is mine!” Moe reached down and in one powerful jerk ripped Rhys’s pants down the front.
Before he knew what was happening, Moe lifted him in the air and with his large hands supporting him under his ass, his mate had him pinned against the wall, his groin at eye level. Before he could say a word of protest Moe swallowed his entire cock down. He bobbed up and down frantically, taking in every inch.
Rhys moaned out loud. It had been so damn long since he had even come. The addiction had overridden even his sex drive.
Moe came up off his cock and Rhys whimpered. Moe dipped back down and licked and nibbled his balls as they rose up against his body. He was so damn close.
“Please.”
Moe stopped and looked up at him, meeting his lust-filled gaze from across his body.
“Please who?”
“Please, my mate.”
Moe roared loud enough that the vibrations shook his body. Moe shifted his hands and placed Rhys’s legs over his shoulders. Using one hand to support his weight, his shoulders to pin him against the wall, Moe had freed his other hand. Using his saliva he slicked up his fingers. Seconds later the sensation of one of Moe’s large digits penetrating him as his mate’s throat convulsed around his cock was enough to send him to the sky.
“Moe!” He screamed and came harder than he had ever come in his life. Jets of semen erupted from his cock and shot down his mate’s eager throat. Slowly Moe pulled off of Rhys and eased him down the wall.
Standing was beyond him. Just as his knees gave out Moe was there to lift him gently and hold him close. He was spent. Mentally, emotionally, physically, sexually. Tears of regret for not being the mate his man needed mingled with the tears borne from the shame of his actions, and dripped down his face. He was unable to do more than just lay in his arms as Moe walked back up the stairs.
“I can suck cock, huh?” The outlandish question had Rhys struggling to sit up and turning in Moe’s arms to look at his mate. Moe was grinning down at him. Rhys felt his mouth drop.
“I can’t believe you. I just totally lost it down there and that’s all you can say?” he demanded.
Moe stopped, thought about it for a second, and then with a megawatt smile said, “I love you.” Rhys’s heart stopped. It was too much. Tonight had been too much. He sobbed into the broad chest of his mate uncontrollably.
“Shush, baby, I have you. And I’m never letting you go.”
Rhys was beyond speech. He felt Moe gently place him on their bed and strip off his blood-soaked clothes. Minutes later a warm wash cloth caressed his skin in soft circles. When he was clean Moe joined him in their bed, spooning up behind him, holding him close.
“I love you too,” Rhys whispered, clutching Moe’s arm to his body tightly, afraid that if he let go he would lose this godlike man.
“Just keep loving me. All I need is you.” He felt Moe’s warm breath on the back of his neck. He nodded before curling up and letting sleep take him.
* * * *
Rhys kept smiling shyly over at his mate the next day at breakfast. They held hands under the table at the diner. Moe looked like the cat that ate the canary. Moe had woken up extra early to clean up the kitchen so Peyton wouldn’t freak out when he went down for his morning tea.
He really didn’t deserve this man. He yawned and sat up straighter, stretching his back.
“Thanks for watching Aidhan, Ma. Becca really needed the break,” Aleks said, kissing the top of his son’s head.
“Oh my god, yes. Thank you, Ma!” Sebastian echoed. Ashby nodded.
Rhys smiled at the men. They looked exhausted.
“I had seven boys. Handling these three angels will be no trouble.” Ma bounced Aidhan on her hip and tickled Lucian.
“We are totally going to have some guy time, right?” Ashby asked Nic and Sebastian. They nodded.
“Yeah, we’re going to down some drinks, watch the ole boob tube and eat like pigs,” Nic said in a gruff voice.
“You mean you’re going to drink some of Gabriel’s best wine, watch reruns of Highlander and eat cheesecake?” Felix asked.
Ashby giggled. “Yup.”
“Wish I could join you but I have an appointment with my mate’s cock,” Felix said urbanely.
“Felix, geez!” Sebastian slapped his friend’s shoulder.
“Just saying.” Felix shrugged. Maddox shook his head and sipped his coffee.
“Okay I don’t want to jinx us, but do you guys feel that?” Nic asked, rubbing his chest.
“No. I am ignoring it. I want my cheesecake!” Sebastian pouted.
“Is it Rebecca?” Aleks asked, reaching for his cell phone. He quickly dialed home.
“Hey, baby, you okay?”
“I feel okay, except a little funny, okay a lot funny, but then I’m kinda funny you know, haha.” Rebecca’s ramble was strange even for her.
“Becca?”
“So did you know I can see sounds? They are like swimming itty bitty dots in my eyeballs. Some are green. I like the blue ones.”
“Is she fucking high?” Rian asked, his eyes wide.
“I feel sad.” Ashby rubbed his eyes.
“Baby, are you sad?” Aleks demanded, clutching his cell phone.
“I’m not, but my chest is. Well, not the parts you licked earlier this morning, you know when you wrapped your tongue around…”
“Becca!” Aleks blushed to his hairline.
“Well if you’re not talking about the happy outside parts, then yes it’s like my inside heart is sad. Cool, the green ones are whispering to me.”
“What the ever-loving fuck is wrong with her?” Felix looked concerned.
Nic’s phone rang. He looked down and answered immediately.
“Yeah Kate, we know something is wrong with Becca,” he said immediately.
“I am a horrible mother! Oh my god why did I think I could do this? I can’t do this! I can’t! There’s four of them. Someone is always hungry or wet or crying. I don’t have enough time to cuddle them all! I’m not enough for my babies!” Kate’s frantic voice worked its way up in octaves.
“You are an amazing mother. It’s okay, Katie Bell,” Nic crooned into his phone.
“I don’t like the red ones! Fuck off, red!” Becca screamed.
Aleks gripped his gun.
“That’s it. Becca, what in the hell is going on over there?”
“Since my human body can’t even feed my own baby, I realized I could have coffee again. I made myself a pot this morning.”
Aleks visibly relaxed.
“Thank god it’s just coffee.”
“Aleks,” Connor called from behind the counter.
“Becca, honey, why don’t you get some rest like we talked about?”
“No, I want more coffee-e-e-e-e.”
“Aleks!” Connor yelled slamming his hands on the counter.
Aleks covered up the mouthpiece of his phone with his hand.
“What!”
“Did you guys buy a coffee pot?” Connor asked, looking worried.
“No, we only have that thing you bought her for her birthday,” Aleks said and Connor’s face turned from a sick panicked look to one of terror.
“Aleks, I bought her an espresso machine, it doesn’t make pots of coffee! How many espressos has she had?”
Aleks looked down at his phone as if it were a live snake.
“I should just die!” Kate sobbed into the phone. In the background they could hear Bran and Caleb trying to calm her down.
“Stay the fuck away. Your penises did this. We’re never having sex again!” Kate screeched. Caleb and Bran were now frantically trying to soothe their mate.
“Becca, go upstairs and lie down, I’ll be there soon,” Aleks said as if he were talking to a ledge jumper.
“No way! I have to defeat the Red ones. Die! Red! Die!” There was a pause.
“But if you’re coming home, can
you stop and get me some cookies? Love you bye bye!” she said sweetly, which added a whole dimension of scary to her color induced death rant. Then the line went dead.
Kate had just dissolved into sobs, and Nic was sobbing right along with her.
Felix looked at Maddox, they sighed. Not saying a word they both stood and each placed a balled-up fist on their palms.
“One, two, three.” Maddox threw paper and Felix threw rock.
“Thank goodness. You get to deal with Rebecca.” Maddox let out a relieved sigh.
“I’ll trade you for a blow job,” Felix offered.
“It’s Rebecca.”
“Two blow jobs.” Felix held up two fingers.
“It’s an over-caffeinated Rebecca, who is hallucinating and possibly armed, as she tries to defeat the color red!” Maddox exclaimed.
“Three blow jobs, a rim job and I’ll do that thing you like when I do you know what,” Felix countered. Maddox took a deep breath.
“Deal. But if I get shot you get tied up all weekend.” Felix’s eyes lit up.
“Aleks, does she have her gun with her?” he asked eagerly.
“I don’t know! Fuck!” Aleks looked like he was two seconds away from crushing his phone.
The sound of hands clapping together had everyone looking at Ashby.
“Okay people, here is what we’re going to do. Aleks, Maddox and I will head to the Arkadion Ranch. We’ll do whatever it takes to get Rebecca back to normal.”
“Normal?” Rian snorted. Ashby glared at him.
“Nic, Sebastian, Felix, you three head to Kate and see what is wrong. It’s not like her to get depressed. That woman doesn’t know the meaning of ‘self doubt’.” Ashby bit his lower lip worriedly.
“You boys go and don’t worry about these little ones. I’ll call Gabriel, Kent and Liam later to pick them up,” Ma said, standing beside the car seats.
Rhys stood.
“What can we do to help?” Beside him Moe stood nodding.
“Moe, can you go to Kate? She likes you and always smiles at your nickname,” Ashby asked.